Landon might have left Mystic Falls and headed for New Orleans the last time we saw him on Legacies, but he’s going to be in trouble when the CW show returns from its midseason break. In the meantime, we may have some answers to Landon’s search for information about his mother and a possible connection to Malivore thanks to a new theory that may sounds familiar to fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Spoilers for Legacies Season 1 Episode 7 below.

In the midseason finale, the latest monster, the Necromancer, tells Hope he was killed by the knife that all these supernatural creatures have been trying to steal and explains its importance. Malivore was “created to wipe the scourge of the supernatural off the face of this Earth,” the Necromancer says. “Decades ago, Malivore was contained.”

Three locks sealed Malivore shut, and the knife was one of those locks. Once all three locks return home, Malivore opens. Since he can control the dead, the Necromancer uses Rafael’s (temporarily) resurrected girlfriend to retrieve the knife. It’s destroyed, releasing one of the locks. Two to go.

At the end of the episode, someone’s watching the knife be destroyed, and that someone, wearing black gloves, has the photo of Landon’s mother holding him as a baby.

Landon's mother is wearing a necklace with the Malivore symbol in this photo of her holding him as a baby

The promo for the next new episode, “Maybe I Should Start from the End,” airing January 24, shows Landon in trouble. Is the person who’s threatening him the same person from the end of the midseason finale? If not, perhaps they’re part of the same conspiracy.

While I have no doubt that Landon’s going to survive, there’s still some questions that need answering. Will he and Hope be reunited in this episode? Or will Hope arrive wherever Landon is after he’s already escaped?

The goal now is clearly to make sure the remaining two locks aren’t destroyed and Malivore stays closed. The knife was one of the locks, and it was also what killed the Necromancer, but that doesn’t mean the other two will necessarily be weapons.

Redditor u/ps2op suggests one of the other keys is the necklace Landon’s mother had on in the photograph.

“It’s possible that the person in black gloves found the photo, saw the necklace, and then flipped it around to see who the people in the photo were so that he could get the second key,” redditor u/Pervy_Not_Curvy agrees.

The talk about locks on Legacies reminds redditor u/showerpoof of Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Dawn Summers.

“[She] was by all appearances just a little girl but was actually the key to open all dimensions at once,” they write. “The monks were very meticulous about hiding what she was and built her entire life up to then and modified everybody’s memories to think she had been there the whole time. What if it’s something similar with Landon, as in, he’s technically human now, but in the past he was something else, which is why he can avoid compulsion but has no other supernatural abilities?”

Redditor u/OmegaFoxFire also thinks Landon’s mother is connected to the keys or Malivore. “Either his mom had one of the keys or she is like queen of Malivore,” they suggest.

But another fan suggests that Landon is the one who’s connected to keeping Malivore closed.

“Maybe he’s the living embodiment of one of the keys,” redditor u/MarenThree writes.

Another theory offers an explanation for the final scene from the midseason finale and a connection to Landon.

“Landon is obviously related to the hunting bloodline that used to operate Malivore,” redditor u/BornAshes theorizes. “One of his relatives is probably restarting the whole thing over again and trying to find him.”

Legacies hasn’t revealed much about Landon’s family. All he knows is his mother’s name. This redditor suggests that this could be how we find out about his father.

“I’m pondering if maybe his mom wanted OUT of the life but his father did not,” they continue. “Now his dad is probably on the hunt to find him, to bring him back to the facility so he can protect him, and possibly his mother if she’s still around.”

There’s no question that Landon is hugely important to the plot of Legacies, but for now all we can do is guess as to exactly what it all means. So while you wait for the series to return next month, why not spend some time rewatching Buffy Season 5? There may be even more unexpected connections between these two supernatural shows.